LEXINGTON, Ky.—For the sixth consecutive year, Transylvania University is ranked in the top tier of national liberal arts colleges by U.S. News & World
Report, and the Princeton Review rates Transy among the nation’s premier colleges.
U.S. News’ 2007 evaluation of America’s best colleges is based on 2005 data and, in some cases, multi-year averages. The publication ranks
215 liberal arts colleges in statistical measures such as student ACT scores, graduation rates, alumni giving and institutional resources, as well as
a subjective measure of academic reputation.
Transylvania made gains in its graduation and retention rate and in financial and faculty resources categories. The resources category includes such
factors as the commitment to instruction, class size, faculty pay, percent of faculty with highest degree, the student/faculty ratio, percent of full-time
faculty, and the average spending per student on instruction, research and student services.
“The top-tier ranking by U.S. News is just one recent measurement of how well Transylvania is doing,” said President Charles L. Shearer. “The
Princeton Review also features Transylvania in the 2007 edition of its annual book, The Best 361 Colleges.”
Transylvania is one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. “We chose schools
for this book primarily for their outstanding academics,” said Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s vice president for publishing.
The schools’ evaluations are based on institutional data, feedback from current students, visits to the schools, opinions of independent college
counselors and other factors. Only about 15 percent of the four-year colleges in America and two Canadian colleges are in the book.
The book’s two-page profile of Transylvania, which includes comments from Transy students surveyed for the book, notes that “academics
are tough, and studying is definitely a must.”
One student praised the “excellent pre-medical program” with “an awesome acceptance rate into medical school.” Another said
the administration is “highly aware of student opinions and genuinely cares about and reacts to student needs and wants.”
The Princeton Review, a New York-based education services company known for its education, admission and test-prep services, is not affiliated with
Princeton University or ETS.
Transylvania, founded in 1780, is the nation’s sixteenth oldest institution of higher learning and is consistently ranked in national publications
as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country.